Have the 100D if you can afford it, for the best range and air springs as standard

The Roadster, now long discontinued, reached fewer than 3000 homes over its four-year life cycle; by way of contrast, Tesla delivered more than 76,000 other new cars last year alone.

So while only a brave few were willing to risk their motoring happiness on an electrified sports car at the turn of the current decade, some 50,000 buyers a year are now switching their preference from fossil fuels to battery power and buying a Model S executive saloon.

Growth of that kind doesn’t tend to come easy, and there have, of course, been safety controversies, recalls and a few corporate scandals to keep the gossip mill spinning. But the Model S has emphatically succeeded, and it is now a bigger-selling car than almost any other full-sized limousine in the world.

Tesla, being at once a long way from done and ever-keen to talk of its plans, already began talking up the Model 3 compact saloon before its first seven-seater had rolled out of the factory. That will make Tesla ownership about twice as affordable as it currently is.

A 2.5-tonne electric vehicle available with as much as 611bhp, the Model X, is a car for which equally remarkable performance claims on acceleration (0-60mph in 3.2sec) and range (in excess of 300 miles) are being made.

We’re testing it in middle-rung 90D model trim. So will the luxury SUV ever be the same again?